September 29, 2005

LSU settles with second teacher over football grades

LSU has reached a settlement with former kinesiology instructor Tiffany Mayne, who sued the university over alleged academic fraud involving football players. LSU had previsouly settled with an instructor, Caroline Owen, in December 2004. Details of the settlement were not disclosed; however, it's presumed that she got a better settlement than Owen's $150,000.

Michael Ruffner, vice chancellor for communications and university relations, said in a press release that the school agreed to settle to avoid the expense of further litigation. He said the university “continues to deny wrongdoing relative to Mayne’s former employment at LSU or otherwise.”

Mayne, an instructor for 10 years, sued LSU and department head Amelia Lee in 2002. Mayne claimed that in 2000 she was pressured to change grades of LSU football players and hide academic misconduct to keep them eligible for the 2000 Peach Bowl. She said in her suit that 10 players who received failing grades were allowed to get extra credit and remain eligible.

LSU admitted to five secondary NCAA violations after an investigation. The NCAA accepted LSU’s self-imposed penalties of two lost scholarships and four recruiting visits during the 2003-04 recruiting year.

This brings to a presumed end the ugly charges and accusations that the LSU football team got help on their grades prior to the 2000 Peach Bowl. LSU says they did nothing wrong, but sanctioned themselves anyway after admitting to five violations.

I still wonder how much of this goes on at pretty much every school. A little suggestion here, a close relationship between the athletic department and a key department head there, etc. I suspect it's much, much more common than is ever reported. I would even venture to say that on every campus, some athlete gets the benefit of the doubt at least once a semester.